Health
Nigerians Cry Out Over Quackery In Health Sector
………. It’s A Major Cause Of Disabilities, PWDs Lament
Federal and state governments and regulatory agencies have been tasked to adopt more stringent measures to curb medical quackery bedevilling Nigeria’s health sector.
The President of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN), Dr. Casimir Ifeanyi, led the call for the Federal Ministry of Health and their counterparts in the 36 states of the federation to intensify the fight against quacks during the anti-corruption radio programme, PUBLIC CONSCIENCE, produced by PRIMORG, on Wednesday in Abuja.
Dr. Ifeanyi, who was reacting to an investigative report by Daily Trust exposing several cases of Nigerians suffering different kinds of deformities as a result of widespread quackery in the health sector, noted that “medical quackery is a major health menace in developing countries and a big illicit business in Nigeria’s health industry.”
He blamed the quackery in Nigeria on the government’s failure to protect citizens, lack of political will to follow through with the legal framework, and failure of regulatory bodies to play their roles effectively. Adding that “the problem of quackery in the health sector is not the lack of punishment. Rather arresting quacks is a bigger challenge”.
On what government and regulatory agencies must do to stem the tide of quackery, He said,” a whole lot needs to be done by the regulatory agencies and by the Federal Ministry of Health and the State Ministries of Health.
“We need to educate people on signs that an individual is a quack and how to credential the facility or individual so that I can have the confidence to receive service. All that is not being done and what makes us professional is because, inherently, we can decide to regulate. Anytime the systemic regulation is compromised, quacks will have a field day.
“Regulation needs to be more effective and more periodic, and there has got to be public health education.”
The medical practitioner picked holes in the law guiding the operation of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), saying, “There’s some lacuna in the powers of MDCN If so far the council cannot walk into a hospital, particularly a private hospital to check the documents of the practicing doctors, then something is wrong because right now they can only do that through the state ministry of health. That is a major lacuna”.
“Our problem is that we have legal frameworks and institutional frameworks for unfortunately, there is the scarcity of political will to give effect to the provisions in our laws, to the policies of the government that we have. The problem we have here is that these regulatory agencies are not doing enough. They are not living up to the mandate that set them up,” Dr Ifeanyi stressed.
On his part, a disability inclusion expert, Chris Obiora, while urging for a stiffer penalty against quackery in the health sector, disclosed that the ugly act has contributed to the number of millions of persons with disabilities in the country, adding that people are getting deformed due to quackery and negligence by health practitioners.
On the reforms needed to address medical quackery, Obiora said, “The Ministry of Health and some of these associations like the Medical Laboratory Association of Nigeria should take it more seriously.
“The government should take the arrest of quacks more seriously because, as far as I’m concerned, they have done more harm than good, so they should have more penalties for such actions, and by that, I mean penalties that will be more serious than what we have already.
Obiora called for awareness of the dangers of quackery in the health profession, stressing that awareness must be created for people to be able to understand and know how to identify quacks, especially in rural areas.
Speaking earlier during the radio programme, Daily Trust reporter Usman Bello Balarabe blamed regulatory failures for the booming quackery business in the health sector. He stated that unlike what is obtainable in other countries, the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) portal does not show licensed medical practitioners, which can aid in identifying certified doctors
“When compared to their counterparts in other countries like Kenya who have published the lists of every licensed medical practitioner in the country and have a mechanism where confirmation of a medical practitioner’s license is possible and easy, Nigeria Medical Association’s portal doesn’t have the list of licensed medical practitioners, and this encourages quackery, Balarabe stated.
Public Conscience is a syndicated weekly anti-corruption radio program PRIMORG uses to draw government and citizens’ attention to corruption and integrity issues in Nigeria.
The program has the support of the MacArthur Foundation.
Health
Stakeholders Applaud A360 Impact On Adolescent Health
Stakeholders in Nigeria’s health and development sector say the institutionalisation and scale-up of the Adolescent 360 (A360) Amplify project have greatly improved adolescent sexual and reproductive health outcomes in participating states.
They made this known at a dissemination meeting on the project on Thursday in Abuja.
It was implemented by the Society for Family Health (SFH) and partners, and later adopted into government systems following documented successes.
Launched in 2020, the A360 project was designed to provide adolescent girls with access to sexual and reproductive health information, youth-friendly services and economic empowerment opportunities.
The programme was implemented in Kano, Jigawa, Kaduna and Nasarawa States using a human-centred design approach that engaged governments, communities and young people to improve uptake of family planning and maternal health services.
Dr Aisha Sadiq, Permanent Secretary, Kaduna State Ministry of Health, said institutionalising A360 had delivered measurable improvements in adolescent health indicators and community wellbeing.
She said Kaduna currently provides A360 youth-friendly services in 623 Primary Health Care (PHC) centres.
The Matasan Mata Arewa (MMA) initiative, she added, had reached 75 communities and empowered more than 15,000 girls with entrepreneurship skills and seed capital.
According to her, more than 60,000 girls have accessed contraceptives through the programme, with a reduction in discontinuation rates as more young women sustain use and transition to maternal and child health services.
“These changes have shown a marked reduction in maternal mortality among those communities. It has also reduced negative neonatal outcomes,” she said.
Sadiq recounted an elderly woman’s remarks from a programme community, calling them a strong reflection of the project’s success.
“These girls have spent their whole lives believing they will remain tolerable liabilities to the husbands they marry, but now they are realising the value of becoming appreciated assets,” she quoted.
Sadiq added that Kaduna’s 16 per cent health budget allocation and the integration of A360 activities into the state’s 2025 Annual Operational Plan demonstrated sustained political commitment.
Also speaking, Dr Omokhudu Idogho, Managing Director, SFH, said the four implementing states had successfully embedded A360 approaches into government systems, community structures and routine health practices.
He was represented by Dr Kenechukwu Erichalo, Deputy Managing Director, Project Delivery.
Idogho said the project had reached more than one million adolescent girls with family planning services and engaged over 500,000 others with comprehensive sexuality education messaging.
“We recorded more than 50,000 antenatal care visits, ensuring that girls received skilled care that saved lives, and supported over half a million girls to learn income-generating skills,” he said.
He said A360 pioneered the MMA and Niger Girls models, demonstrating that culturally sensitive, human-centred programmes can succeed even in conservative communities.
“Our most significant achievement is institutionalisation. Today, all 1,750 A360-supported facilities are fully government-led,” he added.
Mrs Roselyn Odeh, A360 Project Lead, said the initiative was developed in response to poor adolescent health indices in the country.
She said the programme ensured respectful, youth-friendly services at PHCs and supported school reintegration and entrepreneurship for girls.
She said the decision to scale the programme in northern states was based on data.
“When you look at maternal mortality among young people, you know the section of the country it is coming from. Data drove our decisions in alignment with government priorities,” she said.
Odeh identified challenges including weak PHC infrastructure, funding gaps, commodity shortages and the need to engage husbands in conservative communities.
“But creatively, we worked with governments to mobilise domestic funding through health revolving funds and the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund,” she said.
Mr Sagir Musa, Commissioner for Youth, Jigawa State, assured of continued commitment from implementing states to sustain and expand the project’s gains.
“This project may be nearing closure, but for us, it has just begun. We have gone beyond its life cycle to embed its approaches in the things we do,” he said.
The dissemination meeting brought together policymakers, community leaders, development partners and beneficiaries to review lessons learned and outline future priorities for scaling adolescent health interventions nationwide.
(NAN)
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